From the Principal

The joy of end-of-year celebrations at Pymble continues. Congratulations to all our students who proudly shared their growing skills and talents in Co-curricular Filmmaking, Theatresports and Drama showcases this week – girls, take a big, long bow. Well done also to our Rhythmic Gymnasts for their amazing showcase on Tuesday. I am really looking forward to our Artistic Gymnastics Christmas Display tonight to watch the incredible routines our girls have worked so hard to master and to experience the magic of our new program, Aerial Circus.

Speaking of artistic, thank you to our Year 11 Visual Arts students who have gifted us with a stunning variety of portraits to marvel over in their 2023 Pymble Archies Exhibition. The display is in the GMCPA foyer until Wednesday 6 December, and you can vote for your favourite portrait by clicking here.

This week we also had a beautiful Boarders’ Christmas Celebration on Tuesday (see the Boarding section for more details and photos), following our ‘Barbie meets Christmas’ themed Combined Assembly earlier in the day. You might be wondering why we frequently add elements of playfulness and whimsy to our assemblies. The simple reason is that we want students to look forward to coming together to celebrate each other’s achievements and to share moments of joy, even if it means bringing in the unicorns and whacky socks or a dance-off to Mariah Carey’s much-loved Christmas anthem, All I Want For Christmas Is You. School should be a place where joy and fun abound, in the classroom, outside of class and when we come together as a community.

In this instance, we shared the joy of Christmas, dancing and acknowledging all our students who will be receiving awards and leadership positions at next week’s Speech Day events for Years 7 to 11. The girls also had an opportunity to celebrate our much-loved Reverend Bent before she leaves to embark on her next journey with the Uniting Church. (Junior School, it’s your turn on Monday!)

Phoebe Paleologos (Year 10) and Soraya Catchpole (Year 9) did such a beautiful job in conveying how much Rev Bent means to the students that I have sought their permission to share their tribute here:

“Rev Bent, on behalf of all the students of the Secondary School, it is our honour today to thank you for the eight years of service that you have given us here at Pymble.

“You have guided us, encouraged us, laughed with us, cried with us, mourned with us, celebrated with us. You have prayed with us and sung with us. (Sorry our singing has been so bad sometimes!)

“You have seen so many groups of students graduate from school, and many of them still keep in touch with you.

“Thank you for eight years of your prayers for us.

“Thank you for all your love, for all the hours you have given when no one has noticed, for all the late nights at school functions and trips into the city for Climate Action rallies, and for all the early morning starts setting up the chapel for special events.

“You have shown us what God is like – loving, forgiving, inclusive and a bringer of joy. Thank you for making a difference in our lives.

“And now we have a surprise for you.

“We know that the Scriptures are close to your heart, and that we are close to your heart.

“This gift is not a scroll of Scripture, but a scroll which wraps up all of our love for you.

“On this scroll is a message to you from every single student in the Secondary School.

“We hope you know that with this scroll comes all our love and gratitude.”
– Phoebe and Soraya (pictured with Rev Bent and the scroll below)

There will be more opportunities to celebrate and give thanks for our “dear one”, Rev Bent, including at our Joy of Christmas Celebration at the College this Sunday, Speech Day events next week and a Closure of Ministry service with staff and Boarders early in 2024.

For now, there are no more words to say so I’m ending with Rev Bent’s trademark sign-off to the girls, “God bless” and “Peace out”.